Reluctant to Play Hunter

So my hunter is stuck at level 89 because I just don't feel like being forced into playing Beast Mastery to do any type of good damage. SV has always been my my favorite spec and it is currently at the bottom of the totem pole atm. I have looked through the patch notes for 5.2 and I really didnt see anything terms of nerfs or buffs to MM or SV...why is this when these are the bottom specs? I will probably level him to 90 and just play Sv anyways but I want to know what you guys think.

If your a good Hunter, you will do Good damage regardless of spec. Not PERFECT, but sufficient to justify a raid position. That said, SV isn't horrible. If you can play it well then there is no reason you should worry about BM or MM.

Originally Posted by melodramocracy

Gold and the 'need' for it in-game is easily one of the most overblown mindsets in this community.

Based on what I've seen people say around these parts. Survival is actually better on about 8-9 of the 16 heroic fights this tier. Reason enough to stay Survival the entire tier. And in pure single target fights, Survival is only behind BM by a few thousand dps.

As such, even playing advanced/hardcore endgame you can use Survival a lot. I mention trash in raid because even if you are going BM for progress boss fights, you still spend a big chunk of the evening as Survival if you respec for trash (we all do in my raids). And outside of progress single target boss fights, you can spend the entire rest of your WoW time as Survival.

As such, even playing advanced/hardcore endgame you can use Survival a lot. I mention trash in raid because even if you are going BM for progress boss fights, you still spend a big chunk of the evening as Survival if you respec for trash (we all do in my raids). And outside of progress single target boss fights, you can spend the entire rest of your WoW time as Survival.

SV is strong on a majority of fights. In MSV, SG/Feng/Gara (if inside the spirit realm)/Elegon/WOTE favors survival's "multidotting" capabilities, and on demand burst with TOTH - the only reason BM pulls so far ahead on elegon is because the "top parsers" are log whores, who lets their pets sit on Elegon while they depend on their partners to kill the spark, essentially gaining so much damage from kill commanding the dragon instead of the spark that surv can't keep up.
In HoF, it's more equal, with Surv being the better choise on Ambershaper and Shekzeer, but behind on the other four fights - except, of course, if you apply a "aoe and burn"-tactic to windlord, in which case Surv becomes better on that fight (many guilds do, but it's the more chaotic way to do it, so I personally haven't got to do it yet).
In Terrace, Surv is stronger on protectors due to the buff not affecting your pet, it's stronger on tsulong due to general time spent killing adds and movement between them (sucks for the pet), weaker on Lei Shi, and it's debatable on sha - depending on what your issue is, either spec will be stronger - BM is hands down incredible for P1 (platform singletarget damage), and surv is awesome for P2 (dealing with adds, one multishot applies a dot that ticks for 25-30K to all adds).
So all in all, surv is stronger for a majority of fights, if utilised correct.

SV is strong on a majority of fights. In MSV, SG/Feng/Gara (if inside the spirit realm)/Elegon/WOTE favors survival's "multidotting" capabilities, and on demand burst with TOTH - the only reason BM pulls so far ahead on elegon is because the "top parsers" are log whores, who lets their pets sit on Elegon while they depend on their partners to kill the spark, essentially gaining so much damage from kill commanding the dragon instead of the spark that surv can't keep up.
In HoF, it's more equal, with Surv being the better choise on Ambershaper and Shekzeer, but behind on the other four fights - except, of course, if you apply a "aoe and burn"-tactic to windlord, in which case Surv becomes better on that fight (many guilds do, but it's the more chaotic way to do it, so I personally haven't got to do it yet).
In Terrace, Surv is stronger on protectors due to the buff not affecting your pet, it's stronger on tsulong due to general time spent killing adds and movement between them (sucks for the pet), weaker on Lei Shi, and it's debatable on sha - depending on what your issue is, either spec will be stronger - BM is hands down incredible for P1 (platform singletarget damage), and surv is awesome for P2 (dealing with adds, one multishot applies a dot that ticks for 25-30K to all adds).
So all in all, surv is stronger for a majority of fights, if utilised correct.

You definitely want to be Survival for Sha-HC. P1 is a joke, the fight starts at P2 where lots of AoE is needed to not get overrun by the adds.

You definitely want to be Survival for Sha-HC. P1 is a joke, the fight starts at P2 where lots of AoE is needed to not get overrun by the adds.

Depends how long you've spent, I guess. Only had an evening on it so far, so my guildies are still getting used to the dread-spray dance while soaking and keeping DPS up - we had to use four tanks untill we activated the lei shi buff to not fall behind. I'm sure that when we are reliably getting to P2, I'll prefer survival. I also have friends in other guilds saying that P2 is a cakewalk compared to P1 (and really, it does seem extremely simple. Heal the debuff targets, don't stand in waterspouts, and apart from that, just dps).

Its kinda late but I might as well tell you guys my hunter is an LFR alt and won't be used for anything besides that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't looking like a scrub in LFR because SV was too low damage (looked like it from sim numbers) but thanks for clarifying it for me.

I've been playing Survival over Beast Mastery and I've been doing just fine. I haven't been fortunate enough to be part of a progressed guild yet this tier, so I haven't done much else apart from Raid Finder, either. I have a feeling this will be another slow tier for me.

Its kinda late but I might as well tell you guys my hunter is an LFR alt and won't be used for anything besides that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't looking like a scrub in LFR because SV was too low damage (looked like it from sim numbers) but thanks for clarifying it for me.

Then go MM if you want. Hell I've been in a few LFRs on my hunter as MM and have still topped the meters. LFR, if you have the ability to raid normal, is pretty much a playground to just test out new builds or rewind.

I've been playing only my hunter since DS. I raided as SV in DS. Did all my lvling as BM and used BM on all the fights it's "better" on. With that said, by the time my gear got upwards of 380, I couldn't tell a difference on target dummies and in raids. By the time I hit 390 I was going full SV. Soon going to take out BM and pick up MM just to learn it again. I know BM rotation and have no issue doing it, just not a fan.

My reasoning for this is I'm just a better SV hunter then BM. Even after months of BM only SV still feels better and it shows in my charts. I like the spec more and FOR ME I pull better DPS as SV.